Chief Roy Whitney, right, cuts the ribbon with help from Chief Sandford Big Plume, left, during the opening of the Grey Eagle hotel at Tsuu T’ina in Calgary on May 2, 2014. The First Nation is looking ahead at how they can best develop the land surrounding the southwest portion of the ring road. They’re awaiting federal approval of a $340-million cash and land swap that will accommodate a portion of the future highway and pave the way for projects to proceed.Leah Hennel
/ Calgary Herald

Chief Roy Whitney, middle, stands outside the Grey Eagle hotel at Tsuu T’ina with Keegan Starlight, left and Noah Johnson, right, during the opening of the hotel in Calgary on May 2, 2014. The First Nation is looking ahead at how they can best develop the land surrounding the southwest portion of the ring road. They’re awaiting federal approval of a $340-million cash and land swap that will accommodate a portion of the future highway and pave the way for projects to proceed.Leah Hennel
/ Calgary Herald

Tsuu T’ina First Nation leaders had their sights set squarely on a prosperous future Friday as they celebrated the completion of the $65-million Grey Eagle Casino expansion and an impending development blitz.

Band elders cut the ribbon on the 178-room, 4.5-star hotel, the final piece in the casino expansion which saw the opening of a 2,000-seat theatre last year. But the milestone was by no means the final step in development projects for the reserve southwest of the city.

“We now have the opportunity to fully realize our potential as Tsuu T’ina, and our nation is now in a position to fully implement our vision of economic prosperity,” Chief Roy Whitney told the hundreds gathered in the hotel’s pristine conference room. “This will allow our people to grow in education, in housing, in health, policing, as well in economic stability.”

With the Grey Eagle Resort finished, the band is now looking to maximize the economic potential presented by the $5-billion southwest ring road expansion. Both the provincial government and the Tsuu T’ina are awaiting federal approval of a $340-million cash and land swap that will accommodate a portion of the future highway and pave the way for the project to proceed.

And with the anticipated approval will come more opportunity. said Peter Manywounds, the band’s executive director of legislative procedures.

The Tsuu T’ina will vote this summer on whether to designate all the lands along the ring road corridor for economic development, he said. Additionally, the band will also begin relocating its business headquarters in the next year, including the Chief David Crowchild building, which houses the band’s gas bar, the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex and the Buffalo Run Golf Course.

Manywounds said the job opportunities alone will be a boon to the First Nation, noting the band council is working on a strategy to employ 90 per cent aboriginal people in building the new headquarters and future highway.

“Some of those buildings are 40 years old, some are 50 years old, so we have an opportunity to create new state-of-the-art buildings just like this hotel for new generations, and that is something council has been very careful to ensure that we include,” he said.

Manywounds said there is a consultation process in the works for the neighbouring communities, but “we have not reached out to them on a one-to-one basis.”

Allie Tulick, president of the Lakeview Community Association, which neighbours the reserve, said she had not yet been approached about development plans but trusted the Tsuu T’ina would continue to be “good neighbours.”

“We’re absolutely 100 per cent curious,” she said.

Lakeview’s primary concern about the ring road project is the potential for traffic to divert through the neighbourhood during high congestion times, she added, but the community is generally supportive of the Tsuu T’ina.

“I encourage their economic and cultural developments,” Tulick said.

Meanwhile, the hotel, which will officially open to the public on May 4, is being hailed as an employment success story for the First Nation.

Manager Kevin Yates said about 40 per cent of the 70-member staff are aboriginal, including 14 Tsuu T’ina graduates from SAIT’s aboriginal hospitality program. Yates said the hope is that the hotel will provide steady employment for Tsuu T’ina youth, and that some may eventually take over management of the resort — billed as a getaway on the “doorstep of the Rockies” for Calgarians and visiting business professionals.

For Tanya Eagletail, the opportunity to go through SAIT’s hospitality program and work on the reserve was serendipitous.

“The opportunity came at a perfect time,” said the stay-at-home mom turned receptionist. “I’d always wanted to work in the hospitality industry.”

Being part of the opening has been busy and exciting personally, she said, but also has her looking forward to the job opportunities the hotel, and further development plans, will bring for her 16-year-old son.

“When I was his age I didn’t have any opportunities like this,” she said. “He came today, he loves that he’s seeing me work in this area, and I hope I can be a role model as well as all the other staff here, seeing the first nations here and being able to be a part of this.”

Revenue from the Grey Eagle Resort funds education and housing programs for the Tsuu T’ina Nation. So far the band has built 220 homes and send 120 students to post-secondary programs.

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